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Page 1: inContact Workforce Management v2...inContact Workforce Management v2 Scheduler Web Site User Manual Page 8 of 62 1. Overview The WFM v2 Scheduler Website, which will be referred to

inContact Workforce Management v2

Scheduler Web Site User Manual www.incontact.com

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inContact WFM v2 Scheduler Web Site User Manual • Version — 16.1

• Revision — March 2016

• About inContact — inContact (NASDAQ: SAAS) is leader in cloud contact center software, helping organizations around the globe create customer and contact center employee experiences that are more personalized, more empowering and more engaging today, tomorrow and in the future. inContact focuses on continuous innovation and is the only provider to offer core contact center infrastructure, workforce optimization plus an enterprise-class telecommunications network for the most complete customer journey management. inContact offers customers a choice of deployment options. To learn more, visit www.inContact.com.

Excel and Internet Explorer are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

• Copyright — ©2016 inContact, Inc.

• Disclaimer — inContact reserves the right to update or append this document, as needed.

• Contact — Send suggestions or corrections regarding this guide to [email protected].

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Table of Contents 1. Overview ....................................................................................................................................... 8

2. Schedule Profiles ......................................................................................................................... 9

2.1. Create New Schedule Profile ........................................................................... 9

2.2. View Schedule Profile Details ........................................................................ 10

2.3. Edit Schedule Profile.................................................................................... 10

2.3.1. Optimization Parameters ....................................................................... 11

2.3.1.1. Optimization Time ......................................................................... 11

2.3.1.2. Agent Time or Cost Minimization ..................................................... 11

2.3.1.3. Peak or Balanced Scheduling ........................................................... 11

2.3.1.4. Schedule Generation ...................................................................... 12

2.3.2. System Settings ................................................................................... 12

2.3.2.1. Forecast Period ............................................................................. 12

2.3.2.2. Scheduling Period .......................................................................... 13

2.3.3. Scheduling Parameters ......................................................................... 13

2.3.3.1. Balance Distribution of Schedules With Days Off ................................ 13

2.3.3.2. Skills-based Scheduling .................................................................. 13

2.3.3.3. Minimum Number of Agents Per Period Per Stream ............................ 13

2.3.3.4. Minimum Separation ...................................................................... 14

2.3.3.5. Frontloading ................................................................................. 14

2.3.4. Simulation Parameters .......................................................................... 14

2.3.4.1. Number of Replications .................................................................. 14

2.3.4.2. Agent Selection ............................................................................. 14

2.3.4.3. Call Selection ................................................................................ 14

2.3.5. Advanced Settings ................................................................................ 15

2.3.5.1. Advanced Scheduling Parameters .................................................... 15

2.3.5.1.1. Percent Gap .............................................................................. 15

2.3.5.1.2. Balance Distribution of Start Times .............................................. 15

2.3.5.1.3. Balance Break Spread Times ....................................................... 15

2.3.5.1.4. Generate Schedules with Consistent Start Time ............................. 15

2.3.5.1.5. Report Schedules in Local Time Zone............................................ 15

2.3.5.1.6. Maximum Number of Scheduling Iterations ................................... 15

2.3.5.1.7. Prioritize Email in Skills-based Scheduling ..................................... 16

2.3.5.1.8. Advanced Skills Backup Scheduling .............................................. 16

2.3.5.1.9. Use Longest Tours Only: ............................................................. 16

2.3.5.2. Advanced Simulation Parameters ..................................................... 16

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2.3.5.2.10. Transient Period Length ............................................................ 16

2.3.5.2.11. Multiple of AST to Simulate ....................................................... 17

2.3.5.2.12. Threshold for Abandonments ..................................................... 17

2.3.5.2.13. Step Size ................................................................................ 17

2.3.5.2.14. Maximum Number of Simulation Passes ...................................... 17

2.3.5.2.15. Simulate Using Default Seed...................................................... 17

2.3.5.2.16. Maximum Number of Simulation Iterations .................................. 17

2.3.5.2.17. Simulation Margin .................................................................... 17

2.3.5.2.18. Batch Size ............................................................................... 17

2.4. Save Schedule Profile .................................................................................. 17

3. Configuration .............................................................................................................................. 18

3.1. Agent Query ............................................................................................... 18

3.1.1. Query Selection ................................................................................... 18

3.1.2. Environment Selection .......................................................................... 19

3.1.3. Minimum Skill Level .............................................................................. 19

3.1.4. View Query Results .............................................................................. 19

3.1.5. Downloading Query Results ................................................................... 20

3.2. Agent Costs Tables...................................................................................... 20

3.2.1. Create New Agent Costs Table ............................................................... 21

3.2.2. View Agent Costs Table Details .............................................................. 21

3.2.3. Edit Agent Costs Table .......................................................................... 22

3.2.4. Save Agent Costs Table ........................................................................ 22

3.3. Agent Breaks Tables .................................................................................... 22

3.3.1. Create New Agent Breaks Table ............................................................. 22

3.3.2. View Agent Breaks Table Details ............................................................ 23

3.3.3. Edit Agent Breaks Table ........................................................................ 23

3.3.4. Save Agent Breaks Table ....................................................................... 23

3.4. New Agent Counts Tables ............................................................................ 23

3.4.1. Create New Agents Count Table ............................................................. 24

3.4.2. View New Agent Counts Table Details ..................................................... 24

3.4.3. Edit New Agent Counts Table ................................................................. 25

3.4.4. Save New Agent Counts Table ............................................................... 25

3.5. Agent Configuration Tables .......................................................................... 25

3.5.1. Create New Agent Configuration Table .................................................... 26

3.5.2. View Agent Configuration Table Details ................................................... 26

3.5.3. Edit Agent Configuration Table ............................................................... 27

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3.5.4. Save Agent Configuration Table ............................................................. 28

3.6. Service Profiles ........................................................................................... 28

3.6.1. Create New Service Profile .................................................................... 28

3.6.2. View Service Profile Details.................................................................... 29

3.6.3. Edit Service Profile ............................................................................... 29

3.6.3.1. Call Service Targets ....................................................................... 30

3.6.3.1.1. Service Level ............................................................................. 30

3.6.3.1.2. Average Speed of Answer ........................................................... 30

3.6.3.1.3. Maximum Occupancy .................................................................. 30

3.6.3.1.4. Abandonment Level .................................................................... 30

3.6.3.1.5. Service Target Profile ................................................................. 31

3.6.3.2. Workload Service Targets ............................................................... 31

3.6.3.2.6. Service Window Type ................................................................. 31

3.6.3.2.7. Service Window ......................................................................... 31

3.6.3.3. Data Analysis Parameters ............................................................... 31

3.6.3.3.8. Abandonment Percentage ........................................................... 31

3.6.3.3.9. Volume and Average Service Time Adjustment Factor..................... 32

3.6.3.3.10. Before and After Contact Work Time ........................................... 32

3.6.4. Save Service Profile .............................................................................. 32

3.7. Service Target Profiles ................................................................................. 32

3.7.1. Create New Service Target Profile .......................................................... 32

3.7.2. Edit Service Target Profile ..................................................................... 33

3.7.3. Save Service Target Profile .................................................................... 33

3.8. Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles ....................................................................... 34

3.8.1. Upload Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile ....................................................... 34

3.8.2. Manage Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles .................................................... 34

4. Scheduling .................................................................................................................................. 36

4.1. New Schedule Run ...................................................................................... 36

4.1.1. Environment Selection .......................................................................... 36

4.1.2. Schedule Profile Selection...................................................................... 37

4.1.3. Description .......................................................................................... 37

4.1.4. Agent Costs Table Selection ................................................................... 37

4.1.5. Agent Breaks Table Selection ................................................................. 38

4.1.6. New Agent Counts Table Selection.......................................................... 38

4.1.7. Agent Configuration Table ..................................................................... 38

4.1.8. Agent Requirements Information ............................................................ 38

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4.1.8.1. Planning Period ............................................................................. 38

4.1.8.2. Aggregate Method ......................................................................... 38

4.1.8.3. Forecast Source ............................................................................ 39

4.1.8.3.1. Forecast or Requirements Run Selection ....................................... 39

4.1.8.4. Scheduling Period Start Date .......................................................... 39

4.1.8.5. Service Profile ............................................................................... 39

4.1.8.6. Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile ........................................................... 39

4.1.9. Skills Availability Period Start Date ......................................................... 39

4.1.10. Adjustment Factor ................................................................................ 39

4.1.11. Advanced ............................................................................................ 40

4.1.12. Submit New Schedule Run..................................................................... 40

4.2. Manage Schedule Runs ................................................................................ 40

4.2.1. Environment Selection .......................................................................... 41

4.2.2. Schedules in Queued Status .................................................................. 41

4.2.3. Schedules in Running Status.................................................................. 41

4.2.4. Schedules in Error or Aborted Status ...................................................... 41

4.2.5. Schedules in Completed and Edited Status .............................................. 42

4.2.6. Re-Running a Completed Schedule ......................................................... 42

4.2.7. Re-simulating a Skills-based Schedule .................................................... 42

4.2.8. Viewing a Completed Schedule .............................................................. 43

4.2.8.1. Schedule Reports by Skill Group ...................................................... 43

4.2.8.2. Schedule Reports by Business Unit .................................................. 44

4.2.8.3. Performance ................................................................................. 44

4.2.8.4. Overages/Underages Summary ....................................................... 45

4.2.8.5. Implementation Format .................................................................. 45

4.2.8.6. Analytical Format .......................................................................... 46

4.2.8.7. Summary ..................................................................................... 46

4.2.8.8. Schedule Summary for Environment ................................................ 47

4.2.8.9. Balance Reports ............................................................................ 47

4.2.8.10. Environment Requirements Summary .............................................. 48

4.2.8.11. Backup Skills Schedule Report ......................................................... 49

4.2.8.12. Unscheduled Agents Report ............................................................ 49

4.2.8.13. Schedule Editing ............................................................................ 49

4.2.8.13.1. Agent Overages/Underages ....................................................... 49

4.2.8.13.2. Performance Chart Configuration................................................ 50

4.2.8.13.3. Schedule Details View ............................................................... 50

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4.2.8.13.4. Edit Weekly Schedule ............................................................... 51

4.2.8.13.5. Delete Schedule ....................................................................... 53

4.2.8.13.6. Add New Schedules .................................................................. 53

4.2.9. Email Notification ................................................................................. 54

4.2.10. Deleting a Completed Schedule .............................................................. 54

5. Bidding Processes ...................................................................................................................... 54

5.1. Preference Based Bidding ............................................................................. 55

5.1.1. Bidding Groups .................................................................................... 55

5.1.1.1. Add New Bidding Group .................................................................. 55

5.1.1.1.1. Edit Bidding Group ..................................................................... 55

5.1.1.1.2. Order Type ................................................................................ 56

5.1.1.1.3. Weekly Work Hours .................................................................... 56

5.1.1.1.4. Active for Auto-Bidding ............................................................... 56

5.1.1.1.5. Group Membership ..................................................................... 56

5.1.1.1.6. Rank Ordering Criteria ................................................................ 56

5.1.1.1.7. Composite Ordering Criteria ........................................................ 56

5.1.2. Add New Bidding Periods ....................................................................... 56

5.1.3. Edit Bidding Period ............................................................................... 57

5.1.3.1. Agent Bid Groups and Schedule Packages ......................................... 57

5.1.3.2. Schedule Grouping Criteria and Rotations ......................................... 58

5.2. Auto Bidding .............................................................................................. 61

5.2.1. Bidding Group ...................................................................................... 61

5.2.2. Run Auto-Bidding Assignments .............................................................. 61

5.3. Manual Bidding ........................................................................................... 62

5.3.1. Download Current Schedules ................................................................. 62

5.3.2. Download Template .............................................................................. 62

Note: Changes made to schedules in the downloaded file will be ignored during uploading. Schedule changes can be made by an Administrator using the Manage Agent Schedules page at the Agent Workstation web site. Editing schedules is discussed in Section 11.3.2 of the WFM v2 Agent Workstation Administrator Web Site User Manual. ..................................... 62

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1. Overview The WFM v2 Scheduler Website, which will be referred to simply as the Website, is the user interface providing access to all of its functionality. Its basic function is to allow users to submit scheduling requests, manage those requests, and view the output (schedules and other data) from the WFM v2 Workforce Management (WFM) Portal.

The purpose of this User Manual is to provide a comprehensive description of the WFM v2 Scheduler. This document is organized by Website feature. The following documentation provides information on various other modules and functionality:

• WFM v2 Forecaster User Manual • WFM v2 Planner User Manual • WFM v2 Capacity Planner User Manual • WFM v2 WFM Portal Admin User Manual

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2. Schedule Profiles A Schedule Profile is a set of configuration options for generating schedules. A user may create multiple Schedule Profiles, each storing a different configuration, and use them to generate schedules for any environment. A Schedule Profile is a convenient way for a user to set up a particular configuration once and then use that configuration to generate schedules. Using Schedule Profiles, the user does not have to enter all the configuration parameters for each schedule generation.

Users that have Administrator, Manager or Scheduler access level can create, edit, and delete Schedule Profiles. Users with the Viewer access level can view the details of Schedule Profiles associated with generated schedules for the environments assigned to them, but cannot create their own Schedule Profiles, or edit or delete Schedule Profiles. All users can view the details of a Schedule Profile by following the link from the Schedule Profile name on the Manage Schedules page.

For users with Administrator, Manager or Scheduler access level, the Schedule Profiles choice appears in the Planning -> Scheduler -> Schedule Profiles menu. To view the Schedule Profile Manager module, click on the Schedule Profiles menu item. By default, the Manager Schedule Profiles module displays the list of Schedule Profiles that the user has configured. This page should appear similar to as shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 – Schedule Profile Manager

The following sections describe features of the Schedule Profile Manager in detail.

2.1. Create New Schedule Profile The user can create a new Schedule Profile by entering a name and a description for the new Schedule Profile and then selecting the Add Profile button, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2 – Create New Schedule Profile

If there is an error creating the Schedule Profile, a message will be displayed above the entry fields. If the Schedule Profile is successfully created, then it will be opened immediately in the edit mode, as described in section 2.3., below. Upon returning to the Schedule Profile Manager, the new Schedule Profile will appear in the Schedule Profiles list

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2.2. View Schedule Profile Details One of the features provided by the Manage Schedule Runs module is the ability to view the details of a Schedule Profile in a non-editable form. The user can view the details of a Schedule Profile for selected run by double clicking on the Schedule Profile under Configuration. Doing this causes the Schedule Profile Manager to display the details of the Schedule Profile, as shown in Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3 – View Schedule Profile

The user may click on Back to close the detailed view for the Schedule Profile and return to the Manage Schedule Runs page.

2.3. Edit Schedule Profile The Schedule Profile Manager allows the user to edit his or her Schedule Profiles. The user can edit a Schedule Profile by selecting the Edit icon button for a Schedule Profile. When editing a Schedule Profile, the page appears as shown in Figure 2.4.

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Figure 2.4 – Edit Schedule Profile

To cancel editing of a Schedule Profile without saving any changes entered since the most recent update, select the Cancel button. Following is a description for each of the configuration items in a Schedule Profile.

2.3.1. Optimization Parameters The items grouped under Optimization Parameters are used to configure the optimization strategy to be applied when scheduling an environment.

2.3.1.1. Optimization Time Optimization Time is the amount of time the Scheduler should spend optimizing schedules for a skill group (SG), once the first schedule for that SG is found. Other factors may cause the Scheduler to finish before the optimization time is expired. For instance, a schedule may be found that satisfies the other optimization parameters such as Percent Gap.

2.3.1.2. Agent Time or Cost Minimization The Scheduler searches for schedules by minimizing either total Agent Time or Total Agent Cost. Agents may have different hourly and fixed (benefits) costs depending on numerous factors including skills, organizational unit (OU), and whether or not they are full-time or part-time agents. This information can be configured using Agent Costs Tables, described below. Since hourly and fixed agent costs differ, different schedules may be found when optimizing for cost than when optimizing for agent time. When the Total Agent Cost option is selected, it is applied to each skill group to schedule the least cost agents in that skill group.

2.3.1.3. Peak or Balanced Scheduling Peak or Balanced Scheduling applies when agent requirements cannot be met with available agents. Choosing the Peak option causes the Scheduler to emphasize meeting the

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requirements during peak periods, while choosing the Balanced option causes it to emphasize all planning periods equally. When all agent requirements can be met with available agents, the emphasis is on cost or agent time minimization, and this parameter does not apply.

Warning: If there are advanced tour groups in a schedule run with agent shortages, using a Schedule Profile with the Agent Time Minimization and Balanced Scheduling options may not result in the longest weekly agent schedules. In such cases, the user should use a Schedule Profile with the Cost Minimization and No Emphasis options to generate longest weekly schedules.

2.3.1.4. Schedule Generation Schedule Generation configures the degree of agent availability to be considered by the Scheduler when generating schedules. The options for Schedule Generation are as follows:

• Unconstrained Tour Groups: This option directs the Scheduler to consider only agent requirements, shift templates, and tour groups, and not include the number of agents assigned to particular tour groups.

• Agent Tour Group Assignments: This option directs the Scheduler to not only consider the agent requirements, shift templates, and tour groups, but also the number of agents assigned to particular tour groups.

• Incremental Scheduling with Existing Schedules and Agents: This option directs the Scheduler to incorporate the existing schedules for user specified agents (agents on “fixed” schedules) to meet the forecasted agent requirements. The Scheduler considers only those agents who are not on a fixed schedule to generate schedules to meet the remaining agent requirements (if any). The agents on fixed schedules are specified by a user-created table.

• Incremental Scheduling with Existing Schedules and New Agents: This option is similar to the Incremental Scheduling with Existing Schedules and Agents option, except that agent requirements remaining unsatisfied after applying agents on fixed schedules are met by considering both existing agents, who are not on a fixed schedule, and new agents, as specified by a user-created table.

2.3.2. System Settings

2.3.2.1. Forecast Period Forecast Period is the length of time used by the Forecaster to generate forecasts. Currently, the Forecast Period is provided in the Schedule Profile for information only. Forecast Period may be set for all users by a user with Administrator access level through the Application Settings module described in the WFM v2 WFM Portal Administrator User Manual.

Note: If the selected bucket size for the Generate Forecasts in Buckets of option for a forecast run is different than the forecast period specified through the Application Settings, forecasts generated cannot be used for scheduling agents.

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2.3.2.2. Scheduling Period Scheduling Period is the length of time taken as the smallest unit of time allowed in generated schedules. Schedule start, end, increment, and break times are generated as integer multiples of the Scheduling Period.

Currently, the Scheduling Period is provided in the Schedule Profile for information only. It should be set to match the granularity desired in schedules. Only users with Administrator access level can change the value through the Application Settings module described in the WFM v2 WFM Portal Administrator User Manual.

2.3.3. Scheduling Parameters The configuration items grouped under Scheduling Parameters specify the structure, or requirements, of the generated schedules.

2.3.3.1. Balance Distribution of Schedules With Days Off The Scheduler can be directed to balance days-off patterns by swapping compatible schedules between multiple organizational units (OUs). The options are to balance All Days-Off Combinations, or to balance Weekends Only. Schedules are considered compatible when they are configured with the same tour group and template, start and end within the local operating hours, and have the same skill requirements. If a non-zero Minimum Number of Agents is specified for each stream and scheduling period, the schedules generated to meet this requirement are not considered for swapping among OUs.

2.3.3.2. Skills-based Scheduling Skills-based Scheduling directs the Scheduler to develop schedules based on skill groups, which are collections of Contact Groups and define the combinations of skills that each agent may possess. When this option is not selected, the Scheduler generates schedules with agents that meet requirements exclusively from their assigned contact groups for a non-skills based environment.

Note: Selecting the Unconstrained Tour Groups option with Skills–based scheduling may result in meeting service level goals with most skilled agents only.

2.3.3.3. Minimum Number of Agents Per Period Per Stream Minimum Number of Agents Per Period Per Stream specifies the minimum number of agents the Scheduler will schedule for each scheduling period for each OU. The Scheduler first considers the agents who are on fixed schedules to meet the minimum agents specified by the user. If these agents’ schedules are not sufficient to meet the minimum number of agents specified, additional schedules are generated by first considering the agents who are specified as Must Work, and then, if there is a need, the remaining agents who are neither on fixed schedules nor selected as Must Work.

Warning: If there are advanced or mixed tour groups in a schedule run with agent shortages, using a Schedule Profile with a non-zero value for the Minimum Number of Agents Per Period Per Stream option may not result in the longest weekly agent schedules.

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2.3.3.4. Minimum Separation Minimum Separation Between Consecutive Shifts specifies the minimum amount of time required between shifts on consecutive work days for an agent. This value must be a whole number of hours and must also be a multiple of the Scheduling Period.

Note: When an agent has availabilities applied as Hard-Constraints or a pre-assigned schedule, the minimum shift separation is not applied.

2.3.3.5. Frontloading Frontloading When Understaffing Exists specifies that the Scheduler should attempt to meet requirements exactly during a user-specified part of the day, as specified by the start and end times. Satisfaction of all requirements over the frontloading period by the Scheduler is not guaranteed. The Start and End Times options appear when the Yes option is selected.

2.3.4. Simulation Parameters

2.3.4.1. Number of Replications The Minimum Number of Replications parameter is available when Skills-based scheduling is selected. Skills-based scheduling includes simulation and a set of simulation replications. This option is available for the user to specify a longer simulation phase including more replications, if desired.

2.3.4.2. Agent Selection The Agent Selection option allows the user to specify the routing rule to be used for assigning contacts to agents in Skills-based simulation. Two selections are available: i) Highest Skill–Most Idle, and ii) Most Idle. The Highest Skill–Most Idle option results in selecting the agent with the highest skill level for a contact waiting. If there are two or more agents with the same (highest) skill level available, the idlest agent is selected. The Most Idle option results in selecting the agent who is the most idle among the agents with skill for a contact waiting. The Most Idle option does not take the skill level of the agent into consideration.

2.3.4.3. Call Selection The Call Selection option allows the user to specify the routing rule to be used for assigning contacts to agents in Skills-based simulation. Two selections are available: i) Highest Skill– Longest Wait Time, and ii) Longest Wait Time. The Highest Skill–Longest Wait Time option results in selecting the contact that an available agent has the highest skill level for. If there are two or more contacts with the same (highest) skill level waiting, the contact with the longest wait time is selected. The Longest Wait Time option results in selecting the contact with the longest wait time among contacts that the agent has skill for. The Longest Wait Time option does not take the skill level of the agent into consideration.

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2.3.5. Advanced Settings The Advanced Settings link opens the Advanced Scheduling Parameters and Advanced Simulation Parameters settings. To close the Advanced Settings click on the Hide Advanced Settings link. (Figure

2.3.5.1. Advanced Scheduling Parameters The items grouped under Advanced Scheduling Parameters are used to further specify the optimization strategy to be applied when scheduling an environment.

2.3.5.1.1. Percent Gap Percent Gap is the maximum possible amount of reduction in the cost or agent time of a schedule with respect to the estimated cost or agent time for the best theoretical schedules (lower bound). It is a measure of the estimated maximum improvement from the current schedule that can be achieved if the Scheduler is allowed to continue to search for better schedules. The user can specify a value for Percent Gap to indicate that the Scheduler should stop searching for a better schedule when the gap reaches below this level.

2.3.5.1.2. Balance Distribution of Start Times The Balance Distribution of Start Times option directs the Scheduler to balance shift start-time patterns by swapping compatible schedules between multiple OUs. Compatible schedules are described in section 2.3.3.1. above.

2.3.5.1.3. Balance Break Spread Times The Balance Break Spread Times option directs the Scheduler to balance break patterns by swapping breaks between compatible schedules in multiple OUs. Compatible schedules are described in section 2.3.3.1. above.

2.3.5.1.4. Generate Schedules with Consistent Start Time The Generate Schedules with Consistent Start Times option specifies whether the daily start times for each agent in a schedule should be the same, or should be allowed to vary. When Yes is selected for this option, it overrides all consistent start time specifications in the tour group definitions specified.

2.3.5.1.5. Report Schedules in Local Time Zone This configuration item specifies whether the generated schedules should be reported in the local time zone of the agent scheduled, according to the OU that an agent belongs to, or if they should be reported in the main database time zone, which is configured by users with Administrator access level, as described in the WFM v2 WFM Portal Administrator User Manual. This applies to the schedules reported in Implementation Format only. All other schedule information is reported in the main database time zone.

2.3.5.1.6. Maximum Number of Scheduling Iterations The Maximum Number of Iterations specifies the maximum number of cycles that should be used in optimizing schedules. It provides finer-grained control over the length of the optimization process than does the optimization time parameter. Given that the percentage of CPU time that the Scheduler obtains depends somewhat on the other processes running on the servers, the number of iterations may naturally vary over the same amount of time.

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2.3.5.1.7. Prioritize Email in Skills-based Scheduling

This feature allows the user to specify whether or not Email has a priority over calls in a Skills-based Scheduling run. The choice is determined by the setting in the schedule profile, under Advanced Scheduling Parameters -> Prioritize Email in Skills-based Scheduling. The default value is "No" which directs the scheduler not to prioritize Email.

2.3.5.1.8. Advanced Skills Backup Scheduling

This feature allows the user to specify the type of backup to be applied in a non-skills-based run. The type is determined by the setting in the schedule profile, under Advanced Scheduling Parameters -> Skill Backup type. The default value is "Default" which directs the scheduler to assign fractional backup slack at interval level. The following options are available.

• None: No backup slack is applied (any excess agent time is ignored) • Shift: Whole agent shifts are assigned as backup, only when the entire shift is

excess time. Only the working time (not breaks) counts as backup. • Specified: The user can specify a minimum amount of time to consider for

backup and only slots at least this long will be used. Slot time may increase in interval size (e.g. 15 minutes) increments.

• Interval: Equivalent to Specified, if the time specified is equal to the interval size (e.g. 15 minutes).

2.3.5.1.9. Use Longest Tours Only:

This feature allows the user to specify whether the scheduler is to use only the longest tour groups or not. The type is determined by the setting in the schedule profile, under Advanced Scheduling Parameters -> Use Longest Tours Only. The default value is "No" which directs the scheduler to use all tour groups.

2.3.5.2. Advanced Simulation Parameters The items grouped under Advanced Simulation Parameters are used to further specify the simulation strategy to be applied when scheduling an environment.

Warning: Since the Advanced Simulation Parameters may increase the total run time for a schedule run significantly, these settings should not be changed without a thorough understanding of discrete event simulation techniques.

2.3.5.2.10. Transient Period Length The Transient Period Length specifies the portion of the simulation experimentation period during which the initial conditions may be in effect. This value may be fractional but must be between 1 and 3.

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2.3.5.2.11. Multiple of AST to Simulate The Multiple of AST to Simulate specifies the length of the simulation experimentation period as a multiple of the longest average service time for any contact group. This value may be fractional but must be between 2 and 8 and also must not be less than the Transient Period Length (see section 2.3.5.2.1, above).

2.3.5.2.12. Threshold for Abandonments The Threshold for Abandonments specifies the period in seconds for short abandonment calls.

2.3.5.2.13. Step Size The Step Size specifies the default step size to be used for staffing level search.

2.3.5.2.14. Maximum Number of Simulation Passes The Maximum Number of Simulation passes specifies the maximum number of simulation passes permitted. Agents in all skill groups are rescheduled in each simulation pass to improve schedules and performance. The simulation process may be terminated either when i) the maximum number of simulation passes is reached, ii) performance targets specified are met in all intervals for all contact groups, or iii) no significant improvement is detected from one simulation iteration to the next.

2.3.5.2.15. Simulate Using Default Seed The Simulate Using Default Seed option specifies whether the simulator should use a default seed provided or generate a new one based on the time and date for a Skills-based run.

2.3.5.2.16. Maximum Number of Simulation Iterations The Maximum Number of Simulation Iterations specifies the maximum number of simulation iterations permitted per simulation experimentation period.

2.3.5.2.17. Simulation Margin The Simulation Margin specifies the simulation precision adjustment parameter to eliminate randomness effect.

2.3.5.2.18. Batch Size The Batch Size is used in simulation to shorten the simulation time by generating call arrivals in batches rather than one by one.

2.4. Save Schedule Profile To save changes made to a Schedule Profile select the Save Profile button. There are a number of reasons that saving a Schedule Profile may not succeed. If invalid values or contradictory settings are specified by the user, one or more messages located near to the incorrect value or values will appear, asking the user to correct these values and resubmit the update. Editing a Schedule Profile while a schedule is being generated with it is not allowed.

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3. Configuration There are several modules related to configuration of the scheduling environment, as described in this section. Users with Administrator access level have access to all of the modules described in this section. Depending on the system configuration, users with Scheduler access level may not have access to the Agent Cost Tables module. Users with Viewer access level have access only to the Agent Query feature through the Agents menu item. They have access to view agent tables through links from the Manage Schedule Runs module.

3.1. Agent Query The Agent Query module (Figure 3.1.) can be found under the Database -> Workforce menu item. Queries can be generated based on a number of criteria. First, the user needs to select a particular query, including queries for schedulable or unschedulable agents, filtered by Contact Group, Business Unit, Organizational Unit, or other feature. Environment and skill level options will appear only for those queries that require them. For queries that require an environment selection, the Environment Selection box will appear. Finally, the user can select a minimum skill level to specify for those queries that require it. By selecting View Results, the query results can then be viewed in the Website. The results of a query may also be downloaded to a comma-separated file.

Figure 3.1 – Agent Query Module

The following sections describe features of the Agent Query module in detail.

3.1.1. Query Selection There are seven choices for Query Selection, found in the Select A Query drop-down menu. The first three choices are Schedulable Agent Counts by contact group, business unit, and organizational unit. An agent is Schedulable if he or she can be assigned to a schedule. The forth query choice is Unschedulable Agent Counts By Reason, which returns data about unschedulable agents with an explanation. An agent is Unschedulable if he or she is specified as inactive, has minimum or maximum weekly hours that are not available, or has missing information. Unschedulable agents may not be assigned to organizational units, and therefore cannot be grouped. The fifth query choice is Schedulable Agents List, which

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returns the list of all schedulable agents in the database. Finally, the sixth query choice is Unschedulable Agents List.

3.1.2. Environment Selection The Environments box allows the user to select one or more environments to use in the agent query. The environments that are displayed in the box are those that are assigned to the user. The user can select multiple environments by holding down the Ctrl key or the Shift key while clicking on environment names using the mouse. In addition, two buttons are provided below the environments box to aide in environment selection. The Select All button causes all environments in the list to become selected. The Clear Selection button causes all environments in the list to become deselected. At least one environment must be selected before starting a query (if that query requires environment selection), or a message will be displayed. When a user has only one environment assigned to him or her, that environment is automatically selected by default.

3.1.3. Minimum Skill Level The user may select a minimum skill level to consider for those queries that require it. The Minimum Skill Level drop-down box allows the user to choose a minimum skill level. The first choice is Skill Level 1, which indicates that all agents with a skill level 1 for a stream should be considered in the query. The remaining choices are the skill levels of agents currently stored in the database. Skill level 1 is the highest skill level and higher numbers represent lower skill levels. If the user selects the skill level 2 as a minimum, then agents with skill level 1 or 2 will be considered, and so on.

3.1.4. View Query Results The user can execute the query and view the results in a table in the Website by selecting the View Results button. An example of the results obtained by querying for the counts of schedulable agents with all skill levels grouped by CG is shown in Figure 3.2.

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Figure 3.2 – Query Results

3.1.5. Downloading Query Results The user can download the query results by selecting the Download button. The results are downloaded in comma-separated values format, which can be saved as a text file or loaded directly into Microsoft Excel.

3.2. Agent Costs Tables The Agent Costs Tables module displays a list of agent costs tables that have been configured. It is located under the Planning -> Scheduler -> Configuration menu item. Depending on the system configuration, users with Scheduler access level may not have access to the Agent Cost Tables module. The module appears as shown in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3 – Agent Costs Tables

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The Agent Costs Tables module stores data regarding the cost of agents belonging to particular OUs within an environment. Therefore the costs tables are specific to environments. Only agent costs tables created for a particular environment may be used to generate schedules for that environment. The following sections describe features of the Agent Costs Table in detail.

3.2.1. Create New Agent Costs Table The user may create a new Agent Cost Table by entering the name for the table, entering a description, selecting the Environment the new table will be generated for in the Add Agent Costs Table area and clicking on the Add Table button. However, this form appears only if the Administrator has given the user’s level permission to create Agent Costs Tables.

When a new table is created, it is populated with default data for each OU in the associated environment. The new table will automatically open in edit mode, once it is created.

If there is an error creating the table, such as when the user already has a table with the same name, a message will be displayed, and the table will not be created. The user may correct the problem and attempt to create the table again.

3.2.2. View Agent Costs Table Details If the user’s level has permission to view Agent Costs Table details, then the user may view the contents of an agent costs table by selecting the link for a costs table from the Manage Schedule Runs module. This causes the details of the selected table to be displayed as shown in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4 – Agent Costs Table Details

Selecting the Back link will close the details view. An agent costs table contains one row of entries for each stream and OU in the environment associated with the table. For each row of entries, there are hourly and fixed cost values for ranges of weekly work hours.

The user can view the Agent Costs Table details depending on the permissions set by their administrator.

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3.2.3. Edit Agent Costs Table If the user’s level has permission to edit Agent Costs Tables, then the user can edit an Agent Costs Table by selecting the Edit icon on the Agent Costs Tables List. The details are displayed in a similar fashion as in the Agent Costs Table Details view, except that the values are contained in editable text boxes. The user may cancel editing the table by selecting the Cancel button.

3.2.4. Save Agent Costs Table The user may save changes to an agent costs table data by selecting the Save Table button. The values entered are checked to make sure they are not blank, are well-formatted numbers, and are zero or positive. If any values fail to meet these criteria, a message is displayed. The user may correct the invalid values and resubmit the changes by selecting the Save Table button again.

Editing an agent costs table is not allowed if it is currently being used to schedule an environment.

3.3. Agent Breaks Tables The Agent Breaks Tables module displays a list of agent breaks tables that the user has configured. It is located under the Planning -> Scheduler -> Configuration menu item. The list appears as shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5 – Agent Breaks Tables

An Agent Breaks Table is created for a specific environment, and allows the user to specify whether various breaks are paid or unpaid, depending on the number of breaks in the shift and the duration of each break. The following sections describe features of the Agent Breaks Table in detail.

3.3.1. Create New Agent Breaks Table The user can create a new Agent Breaks Table using the Add New Agent Breaks Table form below the tables list. The user must enter a name for the new table and a description, and then select the environment the table should be created for. The user must select the Add Table button to create the table. The table is initially created with a default configuration. The new table will appear immediately opened in editing mode. The user can then edit the new table as described in section 3.3.3. A message will be displayed if the name or description field is left blank, or there is a system error that prevents the table from being created.

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3.3.2. View Agent Breaks Table Details The user can view the details of an Agent Breaks Table by selecting the link for the table from the Manage Schedule Runs module. This will cause the table details to be displayed as is shown in Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.6 – Agent Breaks Table Details

Selecting the Back button will close the details display for the table.

3.3.3. Edit Agent Breaks Table Each row of entries in an Agent Breaks Table contains the configuration for a specific number of daily breaks. In each row, there are values for break durations ranging from 15 minutes to 2 or more hours. The user can edit the content of an Agent Breaks Table by selecting the Edit icon button on the Agent Breaks Tables module. This causes the details of the table to be displayed, as occurs with viewing details, but in this case the details can be modified by selecting one of the values of paid or unpaid for each combination of number of breaks and break duration. The user may exit editing mode by selecting the Cancel button, and any changes made since the last update will be lost.

3.3.4. Save Agent Breaks Table When the Agent Breaks Table is in editing mode, the user may change the paid/unpaid settings for any combination of breaks. The user can save these changes to the table by selecting the Save Table button. Any changes made that are not saved by selecting the Save Table button will be lost.

Updating a table while it is being used to generate schedules for an environment is not allowed.

3.4. New Agent Counts Tables The New Agent Counts Tables Module displays a list of New Agent Counts Tables that the user has configured. It is located under the Planning -> Scheduler -> Configuration menu item. The list appears as in Figure 3.7.

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Figure 3.7 – New Agent Counts Tables List

A New Agent Counts table is created for a specific environment, and allows the user to specify the maximum number of new agents that should be considered for each tour group, shift template, and stream combination. These tables are used in Incremental Scheduling with Existing Schedules and New Agents.

3.4.1. Create New Agents Count Table The user can create a New Agent Counts Table by using the Add New Agent Counts Table form below the New Agent Counts Tables list. The user must enter a name and a description, and then select an environment for the table. The user must click on the Add Table button to create the new table. The table is initially created with a default configuration. The new table will appear immediately opened in editing mode. The user can then edit the new table as described in section 3.4.3. A message will be displayed if the name or description field is left blank, or if the user already has a New Agent Counts table with the same name or the table cannot be created for any other reason.

3.4.2. View New Agent Counts Table Details The user can view the details of a new Agent Counts Table by selecting the link for the table from the Manage Schedule Runs module. This will cause the table details to be displayed as is shown in Figure 3.8.

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Figure 3.8 – View New Agent Counts Table Details

3.4.3. Edit New Agent Counts Table Each row of entries in a New Agent Counts Table specifies a particular stream, tour group, and shift template combination that are considered for the existing agents. For each combination, the corresponding hours and workdays per week are displayed. For each combination, the user is able to specify an agent count, which configures the maximum number of new agents that the Scheduler should consider scheduling for that combination.

3.4.4. Save New Agent Counts Table When the New Agent Counts Table is in editing mode, the user may change the name or the description of the table, and the agent counts for any and all of the stream, tour group, and template combinations. The user can save these changes to the table by selecting the Save Table button. Any changes made that are not saved by selecting the Save Table button will be lost.

Updating a table while it is being used to generate schedules for an environment is not permitted.

3.5. Agent Configuration Tables The Agent Configuration module allows the user to create and edit Agent Configuration Tables for use in schedule creation. These tables can be used to configure which agents should be considered on fixed schedule (for incremental scheduling), and which agents should be considered Must Work (for all but the Unconstrained scheduling scenario). Agents that are specified as being on fixed schedules, and which have valid schedules available in the database, will be considered by the Scheduler to meet agent requirements first; these agents are assigned to their existing schedules in the database and the Scheduler does not generate new schedules for them. Agents that are configured as Must Work will have

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schedules generated for them regardless of whether the Scheduler needs those agents scheduled to meet agent requirements.

The Agent Configuration Tables list appears in Figure 3.9, below. It is located under the Planning -> Scheduler -> Configuration menu item. For each table, it displays the name of the table, the description, the environment that the table was created for, the user the table belongs to, the date and time the table was created, the date and time when the table was last modified, and icon buttons to delete or edit the contents of the table.

Figure 3.9 – Agent Configuration Tables

3.5.1. Create New Agent Configuration Table The Add New Agent Configuration Table form is located below the list of tables, and enables the user to create new tables. The user can enter a name and a description, select an environment for the new table, and then select the Add Table button. If the table is successfully created, it will be opened in edit mode, as described in section 3.5.3, below. A message will be displayed if the user leaves the name or description field blank, or if the user already has an Agent Configuration Table with the same name, or if the table cannot be created for any other reason.

3.5.2. View Agent Configuration Table Details The user can view the details of an Agent Configuration Table by selecting the link for the table from the Manage Schedule Runs module. This will cause the details of the table to be displayed as in Figure 3.10, below.

Figure 3.10 – View Agent Configuration Table Details

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The View Details module displays the OUs, Team Leads, and Agents for the table’s environment in a hierarchical fashion. By default, the agent lists for each Team Lead are hidden, but can be displayed by selecting the Show Team Members link at the right end of the row. The lists can be hidden again by selecting the Hide link. For each level – OU, Team Lead, and Agent – the table displays the settings for Fixed Schedule and Must Work.

3.5.3. Edit Agent Configuration Table The Edit Agent Configuration Table screen is similar to the View screen, except that the user is able to edit the table name and description, and the settings at the OU, Team Lead, and Agent levels, as is shown in Figure 3.11, below.

Figure 3.11 – Edit Agent Configuration Table

At the agent level (furthest to the right), the lowest level, each agent can be specified to have a fixed schedule or not, and to be required to have a schedule (Must Work) or not. These settings are represented by check boxes. The user may select fixed schedule or Must Work for each agent by checking or un-checking the checkbox corresponding to the particular agent.

For the OU level, the user may select, in the appropriate drop-down box, By Team/Agent, All Agents, or No Agent. At the Team Lead level, the user may select By Agent, All Agents, or No Agent.

The Scheduler interprets these settings in a hierarchical fashion. Thus, the setting at the OU level overrides the setting at the Team Lead level, which in turn overrides the setting at the individual agent level. For instance, selecting All Agents at the OU level directs the Scheduler to consider all the agents in the OU to be considered for Fixed Schedule or Must Work, regardless of the settings for those agents at their Team Lead or individual agent levels. Selecting By Team/Agent at the OU level defers configuration to the Team Lead and Agent levels. For instance, selecting By Team/Agent at the OU level directs the Scheduler to look at the Team Lead and individual agent levels to determine the fixed schedule or Must Work status of an agent. Likewise, selecting No Agent at the OU level directs the

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Scheduler to consider all agents in that OU to be considered not on Fixed Schedules or Must Work regardless of the settings for those agents at their Team Lead or individual agent levels.

3.5.4. Save Agent Configuration Table When an Agent Configuration Table is in editing mode, the user may change the name or the description of the table, and the settings for any OU, Team Lead, or individual agent. The user can save these changes to the table by selecting the Save Table button. Any changes made that are not saved by selecting the Save Table button will be lost.

Updating a table while it is being used to generate schedules for an environment is not allowed.

3.6. Service Profiles A Service Profile is a set of configuration options for specifying performance targets and customer patience. A user may create multiple Service Profiles, each storing a different configuration, and use them for any environment and over any period of time. A Service Profile is a convenient way for a user to set up a particular configuration once and then use that configuration to schedule agent. Thus, the user does not have to enter all the configuration parameters for each run.

Users that have Administrator, Planner, or Scheduler access level can create, edit, and delete Service Profiles. Users with the Viewer access level can view the details of Service Profiles associated with completed runs for the environments assigned to them, but cannot create their own Service Profiles, or edit or delete Service Profiles. All users can view the details of a Service Profile by following the link from the Service Profile name on the Manage Schedule Runs or Manage Requirement Runs page.

For users with Administrator, Manager, Planner or Scheduler access level, the Service Profiles choice appears in the Planning -> Scheduler -> Service Profiles menu. To view the Service Profile Manager module, click on the Service Profiles menu item. By default, the Service Profile Manager displays the list of Service Profiles that the user has configured. This page should appear similar to as shown in Figure 3.12.

Figure 3.12 – Service Profile Manager

The following sections describe features of the Service Profile in detail.

3.6.1. Create New Service Profile The user can create a new Service Profile by entering a name for the new Service Profile and then selecting the Add Profile button, as shown in Figure 3.13.

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Figure 3.13 – Create New Service Profile

If there is an error creating the Service Profile, a message will be displayed above the entry fields. If the Service Profile is successfully created, then it will be opened immediately in the edit mode, as described in section 3.6.3., below. Upon returning to the Service Profile Manager, the new Service Profile will appear in the Service Profiles list.

3.6.2. View Service Profile Details One of the features provided by the Manage Schedule Runs and Manage Requirement Runs pages is the ability to view the details of a Service Profile in a non-editable form. The user can view the details of a Service Profile by selecting the link for the Service Profile used for a run. Selecting the link for a Service Profile causes the Service Profile Manager to display the details of the Service Profile, as shown in Figure 3.14.

Figure 3.14 – View Service Profile Details

The user may click on Back to close the detailed view for the Service Profile.

3.6.3. Edit Service Profile The Service Profile Manager allows the user to edit his or her Service Profiles. The user can edit a Service Profile by selecting the Edit icon button for a Service Profile. When editing a Service Profile, the page appears as shown in Figure 3.15.

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Figure 3.15 – Edit Service Profile

Following is a description for each of the configuration items in a Service Profile.

3.6.3.1. Call Service Targets The items grouped under Call Service Targets are used to configure the overall targets for service performance.

Note: If there are more than one call service targets selected in a Service Profile used in a skills based scheduling run, only the first one selected (in the order displayed in the Edit Service Profile page) is applied.

3.6.3.1.1. Service Level To set a specific Service Level target, the user should check the Service Level check box. Once Service Level is checked, the user must also provide a Percentage of Contacts and Service Threshold (in seconds) targets. These items default to 80% and 20 seconds.

3.6.3.1.2. Average Speed of Answer To set a specific Average Speed of Answer (ASA) level as the service performance target, the user should check the Average Speed of Answer check box. Once this is selected, the user must also supply the target ASA target in Seconds.

3.6.3.1.3. Maximum Occupancy A Maximum Occupancy level may also be specified as the service performance target. To configure, the user should check the Maximum Occupancy check box and enter a target Maximum Occupancy level as a percentage.

3.6.3.1.4. Abandonment Level An Abandonment Level specifying a maximum abandonment level as the service performance target may also be selected. To configure, the user should check the Abandonment Level check box and enter a target Abandonment level as a percentage.

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3.6.3.1.5. Service Target Profile The Service Target Profile can be used to define a service target goal for each forecast period in a week. To select a Service Target Profile, click on the Service Target Profiles drop-down and select a profile. The creation and management of Service Target Profiles is described in the section 3.7 below.

3.6.3.2. Workload Service Targets The Workload Service Targets section identifies the service window targets to use for multimedia contact groups.

3.6.3.2.6. Service Window Type The Service Window Type can be set to Single or Multiple.

3.6.3.2.7. Service Window If Single is selected, the user must supply a Service Window in minutes for service. If the window is specified as 120 minutes, for example, the service level target is to answer all contacts received in an interval within the following 120 minutes if the window is during the operating hours. Any portion of the Service Window beyond contact group operating hours is considered to be continuing in the next operating day. If Multiple is selected, the user should specify two windows, one for regular response window, and one for beyond the regular response window (after hours). For the regular response window, start and end times are specified in the Service Span area. For contacts received during the regular response window, a Service Window is specified in minutes. For contacts received beyond the regular response window, a Service Window is specified in the After Hour Contacts area in minutes. Contacts received after hours are targeted to be answered within the Service Window specified in the next regular response window.

Figure 3.16 – Service Window

3.6.3.3. Data Analysis Parameters The Data Analysis Parameters section identifies the parameter values for customer abandonment modeling, forecast adjustments, and before and after call work.

3.6.3.3.8. Abandonment Percentage Abandonment Percentage is the rate at which contacts were abandoned when they had been waiting for a certain Average Wait Time (AWT) measured in seconds in the recent past. As staffing levels change, so do the actual AWT to be experienced by the callers for the same contact volumes and average service times. As a result, abandonment rates will

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vary. The Abandonment Percent and AWT parameters are used to model callers’ patience to capture this relationship to accurately account for abandonments. When Automatically option is selected on the Calculate Customer Abandonment Parameters drop-down, the Abandonment Percentage and AWT parameters are calculated using the historical data.

3.6.3.3.9. Volume and Average Service Time Adjustment Factor The Volume and Average Service Time Adjustment Factors allow the Contact Volume and Average Service Time forecasts for each period to be adjusted by a fixed percentage. These values may be positive or negative.

3.6.3.3.10. Before and After Contact Work Time The Before and After Contact Work Time values allow constant amounts of time to be pre-pended and appended to the average handling time values to account for time such as non-phone agent work time.

3.6.4. Save Service Profile In order to save changes made to a Service Profile, the user must click the Save Profile button. There are a number of reasons that saving a Service Profile may not succeed. If invalid values or contradictory settings are specified by the user, one or more messages located near to the incorrect value or values will appear, asking the user to correct these values and resubmit the update. Furthermore, editing a Service Profile while agent requirements are being generated is not allowed.

3.7. Service Target Profiles Service Target Profiles provide a way for the user to specify service performance targets for individual forecast periods. They provide more granularity than do Service Profiles.

The Manage Service Target Profiles page is located under the Planning -> Scheduler -> Schedule Profiles menu item, and appears as in Figure 3.17.

Figure 3.17 – Service Target Schedule Profile Manager

To view a Service Target Profile without editing, select the Service Target Profile name link. To delete a Service Target Profile, select the Delete icon, and accept the delete confirmation dialog. To edit a Service Target Profile, select the Edit icon. The Edit Service Target Profile page is described in section 3.7.2.

3.7.1. Create New Service Target Profile The user can create a new Service Target Profile by entering a name in the New Service Target Profile form and then selecting the Add Profile button, as shown in Figure 3.18.

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Figure 3.18 – Create Service Target Profile

If there is an error creating the Service Target Profile, a message will be displayed above the entry fields. If the Service Target Profile is successfully created, then it will be opened immediately in the edit mode, as described in section 3.7.2, below. Upon returning to the Service Target Profile Manager, the new Service Target Profile will appear in the list.

3.7.2. Edit Service Target Profile The Edit Service Target Profile page allows editing of the selected Service Target Profile, and appears as in Figure 3.19.

Figure 3.19 – Edit Service Target Profile

For each period, the following service level target values can be specified: Service Level (percentage), Service Level Threshold (seconds), Average Speed of Answer (seconds), Abandonment Target (percentage), Abandonment (percentage), Average Wait Time (seconds), at Abandonment %, Before and After Contact Work Time (seconds), Percentage Sale, and estimated Profit per call (dollars). When a Service Target Profile is specified in a Service Profile, the values in the Service Target Profile take precedence over values specified in the Service Schedule Profile while the service performance target type checked (e.g. service level, ASA) remains the same.

3.7.3. Save Service Target Profile Changes made to a Service Target Profile are saved by clicking the Save Profile button. There are a number of reasons that saving a Service Target Profile may not succeed. If invalid values or contradictory settings are specified by the user, one or more messages located near to the incorrect value or values will appear, asking the user to correct these values and resubmit the update.

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3.8. Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles can be used to specify maximum occupancy and shrinkage for particular periods, which provides a greater level of granularity than that provided in the Service Profile. Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles can be uploaded and edited.

3.8.1. Upload Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile An Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile can be uploaded by selecting the Upload Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles from the Administration -> Operations -> Upload menu item. The Upload Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles module appears as in Figure 3.20.

Figure 3.20 – Upload Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles

The data must be uploaded in a recognized format, as specified by the selected Upload Template. The selected template can be downloaded into Excel by selecting the Download Template link.

There are two selections on the Download Template drop-down. These are Time Series and Pattern. Using the Time Series template, the user defines a specific time range over which the occupancy/shrinkage values will be applied. The times included in the Date column of the uploaded template will be mapped on a one-to-one basis with the horizon of a schedule or requirements run. For instance, should the file contain a record for 01/01/2008 11:00 the occupancy/shrinkage values for that row will be directly applied for that time. With this template, a specific profile for each planning horizon will have to be uploaded. A pattern template can be used to define a repeatable Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile. The pattern is created for the time frame described. Thus, the Single Day pattern would create a single day of intervals of the size defined in Bucket Size (described below). If the user selects the Single Day pattern and a 30-Minute Bucket Size, and then clicks on the Download Template link, a file will be downloaded into Excel with 48 timestamps, one for each 30 minute period in a single day. A shrinkage and occupancy value can be entered for each period and uploaded through the Upload Occupancy/Shrinkage module. This template is then applied on a repeating basis for every day over the horizon during a run using this profile. Using other patterns, the user can create a pattern at a Single Day, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly level. This Bucket Size field specifies the length of interval periods within a template. The Bucket Size may not be a greater than the pattern template selected. Thus, a Monthly Bucket Size, for example, can no be selected with a Single Day Pattern.

3.8.2. Manage Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles The Manage Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles page is located under the Database -> Manage menu item, and appears as in Figure 3.21.

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Figure 3.21 – Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile Manager

From the Manage Occupancy/Shrinkage Profiles page, profiles may be viewed, graphed, edited, or deleted, by selecting the appropriate icon. Selecting the Edit icon displays the Shrinkage Factor Data page, as displayed in Figure 3.22.

Figure 3.22 – View Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile

Note: A maximum occupancy limit may be specified to keep the percentage of time agents will be occupied with work below a target. The Scheduler will attempt to meet the target. However, meeting this limit is not guaranteed in every interval.

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4. Scheduling This section describes how to create a new request to have the Scheduler generate schedules for an environment, how to manage currently running jobs, and how to view the results of finished jobs. To start a new scheduling request, select the New Schedule Run item under the Planning -> Scheduler menu item. To examine existing schedule runs, select the Manage Schedule Runs items under the same menu item. The following sections describe the New Schedule Runs and Manage Schedule Runs modules.

4.1. New Schedule Run When a user selects the New Schedule Run menu item, the New Schedule Run page will be displayed. If there are multiple environments assigned to the user, a drop-down box with all of the user’s assigned environments will be displayed. Otherwise, the one environment assigned to the user will be selected by default.

4.1.1. Environment Selection If there are two or more environments assigned to the user, a drop-down box with the user’s assigned environments will be displayed. The other configuration items will not be visible prior to the selection of an environment, since some of the configuration items depend on the selected environment. The user may proceed to configure the rest of the items by first selecting the appropriate environment, and then selecting the Continue button. Once the environment has been selected, the configuration items will appear as shown in Figure 4.1.

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Figure 4.1 – New Schedule Configuration Details

4.1.2. Schedule Profile Selection The first option for a schedule generation request is the choice of a Schedule Profile. See section 2 for information about Schedule Profiles. All the Schedule Profiles that the user has created will appear in the drop-down box and the user may select any of those Schedule Profiles to use for the scheduling request. Schedule Profiles are not dependent on a specific environment. If the user has no Schedule Profiles available, then a message will be displayed indicating that the user will not be able to submit scheduling requests before creating one first.

4.1.3. Description The user is required to enter a short description for the scheduling request into the Description field. A New Schedule Run cannot be submitted if this field is left blank. Its value is strictly for the user’s informational use and can be used to identify and distinguish individual scheduling requests.

4.1.4. Agent Costs Table Selection The user must select an agent costs table to use for a scheduling request. If the user does not have an agent costs table available, a message will be issued indicating that the user will not be able to submit a request for schedule generation before creating one first.

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4.1.5. Agent Breaks Table Selection The user must select an agent breaks table to use for a scheduling request. If the user does not have an agent breaks table available, a message will be issued indicating that the user will not be able to submit a request for schedule generation before creating one first.

4.1.6. New Agent Counts Table Selection This choice will be displayed whenever the Schedule Generation option in the Schedule Profile selected for a schedule run is Incremental Scheduling with Existing Schedules and New Agents. If the user does not have a New Agent Counts Table available, a message will be issued indicating that the user will not be able to submit a request for schedule generation before creating one first.

4.1.7. Agent Configuration Table This choice will be displayed whenever the Schedule Generation option in the Schedule Profile selected for a schedule generation request requires an Agent Configuration table. This will be the case when the Schedule Profile specifies any scenario other than Unconstrained Tour Groups. For Schedule Profiles that do not specify incremental scheduling, fixed schedules are not used, and only the information on the agents’ Must Work status is considered. Adjacent to the drop-down box that contains a list of all the Agent Configuration tables that the user has configured for this environment, are check boxes which the user can use to specify that the settings from the agent configurations from the Database should be used, instead of the settings from the table, for determining either the agents on fixed schedule or those configured as Must Work.

4.1.8. Agent Requirements Information The next four configuration parameters specify the agent requirements that are used to generate the schedules.

4.1.8.1. Planning Period The Planning Period is the number of weeks the user wants to consider for agent requirements to use in generating schedules. This field is inactive if a schedule profile configured for skills-based scheduling is selected. The default value is one week. Selecting a two-, three-, or four-week requirements period causes data from those weeks to be combined to determine agent requirements for a one-week period. The method used to aggregate agent requirements is determined by the Aggregate Method chosen.

4.1.8.2. Aggregate Method The Aggregate Method is the method that should be used to combine agent requirements data if the Planning Period is longer than one week. This field is inactive if a schedule profile configured for skills-based scheduling is selected. For each forecasting period during the week being scheduled, and for each contact group in the environment, the agent requirement is calculated by applying the Aggregate method to the forecasted agent requirements in that forecasting period for all weeks selected in the Planning Period. When the Aggregate Method selected is Average, the values in the forecasting period are averaged. When the Aggregate Method selected is Maximum, the highest value during a forecasting period over the weeks specified by the Planning Period is taken as the agent requirement for that forecasting period. Likewise, when the Aggregate Method selected is

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Minimum, the lowest value during a forecasting period over the Planning Period is taken as the agent requirement for that forecasting period.

4.1.8.3. Forecast Source Forecast Source is the type of forecast data that should be used to generate schedules. The options are to use Forecast, namely Contact Volume and Average Handling Time from a forecast run, or Requirements, from a requirements run or uploaded requirements. The Forecast option is selected if a schedule profile configured for skills-based scheduling is chosen for the run. The Requirements option is selected if a schedule profile configured for non-skills based scheduling is chosen for the run. The options available in the next section vary depending on the option selected.

4.1.8.3.1. Forecast or Requirements Run Selection The Forecast or Requirements Run Selection drop-down allows selection of a specific forecast or requirements run, or the official requirements, for the specified planning period. Whether Forecast runs or Requirements runs are displayed depends on which option is selected in the Forecast Source.

4.1.8.4. Scheduling Period Start Date Scheduling Period Start Date is the date of the week from which to retrieve agent requirements or forecast data. The drop-down box will contain the dates available to choose from, based on the data stored in the database, and the source selected. Only days configured as the first day of the week in the Application Settings will be enabled. If there are no data available in the database for an environment, a message will be displayed to inform the user that a scheduling request cannot be submitted because there are no agent requirements or forecast data available.

4.1.8.5. Service Profile The Service Profile option is available when Forecast is selected as the Forecast Source. This allows selection of a Service Profile for use in scheduling.

4.1.8.6. Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile The Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile option is available when Forecast is selected as the Forecast Source. This allows selection of an Occupancy/Shrinkage Profile for use in scheduling.

4.1.9. Skills Availability Period Start Date The Skills Availability Period Start Date is the week from which the Scheduler should draw agent minimum and maximum availability hours, and tour group and template assignments. This value, when left blank, defaults to the same week as the first week of the Scheduling Period Start Date.

4.1.10. Adjustment Factor The Adjustment Factor parameter enables the user to increase or decrease the forecast values or agent requirements. The value for this field must be between –99% and +99%.

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4.1.11. Advanced The Advanced Settings area provides the user with control over the Service Profile for contact groups in an Environment. As shown in Figure 4.2, the user can select a different Service Profile for each contact group. This allows for precise configuration over a given Environment. If the user wishes to exclude a contact group from a schedule run, the Exclude link for the contact group is used to remove it from the Advanced Settings page.

Figure 4.2 – Advanced Settings

4.1.12. Submit New Schedule Run The user may submit the new request for schedule generation by selecting the Submit New Schedule Run button. A confirmation message will appear after selecting the button, and pressing the OK button will continue processing the request. Pressing the Cancel button will close the confirmation message but not submit the request for processing. When a request is submitted for processing, the browser will be directed to the Manage Schedule Runs module, described in section 4.2. The new scheduling request will appear at the top of the Schedule run list with a Queued or Running status. The user must click on the Refresh button to update the status. Once the run has finished processing the Status will change to Completed.

4.2. Manage Schedule Runs The Manage Schedule Runs module, which is available to all users, presents a list of scheduling requests as shown in Figure 4.3. It is located under the Planning -> Scheduler menu item. For users with the Administrator access level, all schedule requests are displayed. For a user with the Viewer access level, all schedule requests for the environments assigned to the user are displayed. For a user with the Scheduler access level, only schedule requests submitted by the user are displayed.

The Manage Schedule Runs module displays Action links for each schedule request in the list. The actions that are available for a particular schedule request depend on the status of that request. The actions available for each status are described in the following sections.

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Figure 4.3 – Manage Schedule Runs

4.2.1. Environment Selection The Filter drop-down lets the user filter the run list by environment. The user may also filter the result with text. The (All) drop-down contains methods to filter by text. Enter text here and the user will be able to search through the description fields.

Clicking Filter will refresh the table, applying the filtering criteria.

Note: When a user has only one environment assigned to him or her, that environment is automatically selected by default.

4.2.2. Schedules in Queued Status Schedule requests that are in Queued Status are waiting to be processed by the Scheduler. A request may be in a queued state because there are no instances of the Scheduler available for processing, or because the environment is currently being processed by some instance of the Scheduler. When a request has queued status, the only action available to the user is the Cancel action. Selecting this icon button will cause the request to be cancelled and removed from the queue. The status of the request will then be changed to Aborted. For requests in the Queued status, the position in the queue is displayed below the status.

4.2.3. Schedules in Running Status Schedule requests that are in Running status are currently being processed by the Scheduler. The action available in this state is to Abort the request.

4.2.4. Schedules in Error or Aborted Status In the unlikely event of a system error that causes a scheduling request to be aborted, the status of the request will be set to Error. If the user chooses to abort a request, as described above in section 4.2.3, the status of the request will be set to Aborted. In either

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case, because the output data for the scheduling request is incomplete, it is discarded, and therefore there is no icon button provided to view the data. However, the Run and Delete icon buttons are available, as described in sections 4.2.6 and 4.2.8, below. For a schedule request in Error state, a short description of the cause of the error may be obtained by clicking on the Error link for that request.

4.2.5. Schedules in Completed and Edited Status A schedule request that has completed successfully has three or four actions available depending on whether the request is a Skills-based or Non-skills based. First, a new schedule request can be created with the same configuration options. Second, the schedule request, along with its results, can be deleted. Finally, the results of the schedule run can be viewed. If a schedule request run is Skills-based, the schedules can also be re-simulated with adjusted parameters and forecasts. These features are described in the following sections.

4.2.6. Re-Running a Completed Schedule To configure a new schedule request using the same configuration settings as the completed schedule request, the user can select the Run icon button. This will present the user with the New Schedule Run module, as described above, with default settings selected automatically to match the settings of the completed schedule.

4.2.7. Re-simulating a Skills-based Schedule A completed Skills-based schedule run can be re-simulated to analyze the effects of changes in parameters and forecasts used in the original run on performance. The New Simulation Run page (Figure 4.4) reached by clicking on the Re-simulate icon button is used to configure a re-simulation run. For Non-skills based schedule runs, such re-simulations can be carried out directly from the Performance page described in section 4.2.8.3 below. A number of Scenario options can be configured including percent adjustments to contact volume and average service time (AST) forecasts, agent on-duty counts (AOD), and values for abandonment parameters, and before and after contact work time. The Service Profile used for the original run can also be changed by clicking on the Activate icon next to Service Profile. The user is required to provide a description for the re-simulation Scenario which, upon completion, is used in the Performance page to select between Scenarios for viewing data. When the Scenario configuration is completed, re-simulation is started by clicking on the Submit Simulation button.

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Figure 4.4 – New Simulation Configuration Details

4.2.8. Viewing a Completed Schedule The user can view the output data for a completed schedule by selecting the View icon button. Selecting this button displays the View Schedules module as shown in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5 – View Schedules Module

This module provides access to the output data produced by the Scheduler. The Schedule data is presented in three different formats, and also in a summary format.

4.2.8.1. Schedule Reports by Skill Group Schedule information is provided in five different formats grouped by Skill Group (or Contact Group for Non-skills based runs). These formats are Performance, Overages/Underages Summary, Agent Start Times, Implementation format, Analytical format, and Summary format, all of which are described below. They can be viewed in the Website by selecting the corresponding View link (except for Analytical Format), or downloaded to a comma-separated values file by selecting the Download link (except for Performance). All tables for an environment for each format type including Performance can be downloaded in a compressed file format by selecting the Download All link at the bottom of the appropriate column. In addition, data for Performance can be displayed in graphical form as described below.

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4.2.8.2. Schedule Reports by Business Unit Schedule information is provided in four formats grouped by Business Unit. These are the Agent Start Times, Implementation Format, Analytical Format, and Schedule Tour Counts. They can be viewed in the Website by selecting the corresponding View icon button, or downloaded to a comma-separated values file by selecting the Download icon button.

4.2.8.3. Performance The Performance display contains information about the net agent requirements, number of agents scheduled, service levels, ASA, occupancy, abandonment %, on a per-scheduling period basis, for the entire week scheduled in the time zone of the database. Thus, if the scheduling period is 15 minutes, there will be information for 672 scheduling periods in the week. This performance information can be graphed or downloaded. To view these tables in graphical form, the user can select the Graph icon button for the appropriate Skill Group. There are two ways in which the Performance data can be displayed graphically. First, selecting the Monday through Sunday option from the Graph drop-down list and selecting the Redraw Graph button will display data for the entire week. An example of this graph is shown in Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6 – Performance Chart Whole Week

The alternative is to choose individual days to see the data, presented hourly, for just the specified day.

If a schedule run is Non-skills based, service level and abandonment characteristics can be changed from the default and forecasts can be manually adjusted directly in the Configure Performance area. If a schedule run is Skills-based, most of the configurations in the Configure Performance area are de-activated since analyzing performance with adjusted parameters or forecasts require Re-simulation as described in section 4.2.7

There are ten different measures available for plotting. Color used in the chart for each measure is shown in the Select Measure pane next to the measure.

• Agent Requirements are the required number of agents for each scheduling interval against which agent schedules were generated.

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• Agents On Duty and Agents On Break are the numbers of agents working and on break, respectively, as scheduled for each interval.

• Overage/Underage is the difference between Agent Requirements and Agents On Duty for each period.

The remaining measures are calculated from the previous measures and are based on the criteria selected under Configure Performance.

• Average Speed of Answer (ASA): Average waiting time experienced by contacts that are eventually served. This measure includes contacts that are not delayed, but does not include contacts that are abandoned before reaching an agent.

• Service Level (%): Percentage of contacts answered within specified service level threshold.

• Agent Occupancy (%): Percentage of scheduled work time agents are busy serving contacts or completing any necessary after-contact work.

• Call Abandonment (%): Percentage of contacts that are expected to be abandoned before reaching an agent. Actual customers’ patience or impatience is described by an expected abandonment rate (%) at an Average Waiting Time.

• Overage/Underage (%): Percentage by which the agents on duty exceed or fall short of agent requirements for each scheduling interval. It is calculated by dividing the difference between Agents On Duty and Agent Requirements by Agent Requirements.

• Underage (%): Agent shortages as a percentage of Agent Requirements, displayed as non-negative values for convenience.

4.2.8.4. Overages/Underages Summary The Overages/Underages Summary tables contain information about the net agent requirements, the number of agents on duty, and agent overages and underages on a per-scheduling period basis, for the entire week scheduled in the specified time zone (by default, in the time zone of the database. These tables can be viewed directly in the Website, or downloaded. In addition, a printable version is accessible by clicking on the Print link, visible at the top of the table.

Warning: It important to remember that, in Skills-based scheduling, Agent Requirements and schedules for different Skill Groups are considered together to meet service performance targets. Agent requirements provided for each skill group should be interpreted together with the other Skill Groups. In a Skills-Based environment, there are alternative ways of meeting service performance targets by scheduling agents from different Skill Groups with needed skills. Thus, when service performance targets are not met, the Scheduler reports the agent requirements for each Skill Group if that Skill Group alone will make up for the additional staffing needed, given the agents scheduled in other Skill Groups. Therefore, if additional agents are available to schedule for two or more Skill Groups, it is advised that these agents be added one Skill Group at a time followed by a Re-simulation run to update the service levels.

4.2.8.5. Implementation Format Schedules can be displayed in Implementation Format, as is shown in Figure 4.7. In this format, for each schedule, the following information is provided: The shift length, start and end times, and break times for each day of the week, in 24-hour time measurement. Depending on the configuration item selected in the Schedule Profile used to generate schedules, times in the implementation format may be in local time zone of the agents on

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the first day of the week or in the main database time zone. The second column, Fixed, indicates whether the particular schedule was included from a previous scheduling run and not generated specifically for this run.

Figure 4.7 – Implementation Format

4.2.8.6. Analytical Format Schedules can also be downloaded in Analytical Format. This format describes the status of agents for each scheduling period during the day for seven days of the week in the time zone of the database. The format considers a 48-hour period starting from the beginning of a weekday in order to account for a particular schedule continuing into the next day. In this format, the code 0 indicates that the agent is off duty. The code 1 indicates that the agent is on duty and available to take calls (not on a break). The codes 2 or higher indicate that the agent is taking his or her first, second, third break, etc., respectively. Because of the size of this table, it is available only for downloading.

4.2.8.7. Summary In addition to the preceding, a summary of statistical information for each Skill Group is provided, as is shown in Figure 4.8. These statistics include the total cost for the best schedule found, objective (agent cost or time) value, estimated lower bound (total cost or agent time), estimated percent gap, full-time equivalent (FTE) agents scheduled, total agent minutes required, total agent minutes scheduled, total agent minutes paid, total shortages, and percent shortage. For schedules generated using incremental scheduling, the total agent cost for fixed schedules, the total paid agent minutes for fixed schedules, and the numbers of fixed schedules are also displayed.

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Figure 4.8 – Summary for Contact Group

4.2.8.8. Schedule Summary for Environment On the main View Schedules module display, as is shown in Figure 4.8 above, summary information for the entire environment is provided. This information includes the aggregated statistical information that is provided for each Skill Group individually for the entire environment, as described in the previous section, and also a restatement of the schedule request configuration parameters, such as the Agent Requirements settings and the Schedule Profile, Agent Costs Table, Agent Breaks Table, Schedule Profile names. For schedules generated using incremental scheduling, the number of fixed schedules, the number of paid agent minutes, and the total cost for the fixed schedules are also displayed in the summary.

4.2.8.9. Balance Reports A link to the Balance Reports display screen is provided on the main View Schedules module display, as shown in Figure 4.5 above. This link will be available if the schedule generation option selected in the Schedule Profile used for the run is not the Unconstrained Tour Groups option. This screen allows selection of several reports related to schedule balancing options. One of these reports is the Weekends Off by Business Unit/Organizational Unit, which appears as shown in Figure 4.9 below. This display shows the number of schedules generated which have one, two, or no days off during the weekend, on a per-OU basis. This enables the user to see the balance of weekends off between OUs. The statistics presented are after the Scheduler has attempted to balance the weekends off between OUs, if the schedule run’s Schedule Profile requested balancing to be done.

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Figure 4.9 – Weekends Off by Organizational Unit

4.2.8.10. Environment Requirements Summary On the View Schedules module display, there is a link to the Environment Requirements Summary, which is shown in Figure 4.8, above. The user can use this module to view required, agents on duty, call volume, etc. at an environment level, as shown in Figure 4.10.

Warning: The Environment Requirement Summary report in skills-based scheduling runs should be used with caution. In a skills based run, staffing requirements and agent schedules are for skills groups and not directly attributable to individual skills or contact groups. This report is exact for a non-skills based scheduling run. But for a skills-based run, it is only a gross allocation of skill group staffing requirements and AOD to provide information about the alignment of total AOD with respect to staffing requirements.

Figure 4.10 – Environment Requirements Summary Report

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4.2.8.11. Backup Skills Schedule Report

When an option other than None is selected for Backup Skill Scheduling in the Schedule Profile, the specific times allotted for backup are available in the Agent Backup Report. A link to the Agent Backup Report is provided on the main View Schedules module page.

4.2.8.12. Unscheduled Agents Report

A link to the Unscheduled Agents Report is provided on the main View Schedules module page. When Auto-bidding is used to assign schedules to agents based on their preferences and ranking criteria specified, the Unscheduled Agents Report lists the agents for which schedules were not created with a brief explanation below the agent’s name.

4.2.8.13. Schedule Editing The View Schedules module provides Schedule Editing capabilities. To access this functionality, select a Skill Group (or Contact Group for Non-skills-based runs) from the Select Skill Group drop-down, within the Edit Schedules block, and then click the Edit icon button to begin editing the schedules, as shown in Figure 4.11.

If this is an unedited schedule run, a copy of the original run will be made and will be available from the Manage Schedule Runs page. The original schedules and the edited schedules can be compared at any point.

Figure 4.11 - Edit Schedule

4.2.8.13.1. Agent Overages/Underages Clicking the Show Performance Chart link will reveal the Agent Overages/Underages graph, as shown in Figure 4.12. This graph displays the weekly Agent Schedule data, which is updated as schedules are added, edited, or deleted. The graph will show the effects of schedule editing on the total weekly scheduling for the Contact Group.

Figure 4.12 - Agent Overages/Underages

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4.2.8.13.2. Performance Chart Configuration Clicking the Show Chart Configuration link will open the Select Measures and Configure Performance windows as shown in Figure 4.13. These windows manage the Performance Chart in the same way as the Performance page, as described in section 4.2.8.3. Please refer to this section of the manual for more details.

Figure 4.13– Performance Chart Configuration

Note: Configurable fields in the Configure Performance area will be de-activated for Skills Based schedule runs. Service performance updates for Skills-Based schedule runs after editing require Re-simulation. Please see sections 4.2.7 and 4.2.8.4 for more information.

4.2.8.13.3. Schedule Details View The Schedule Details area provides a weekly Gantt chart view of all of the schedules for this Skill Group (or contact group for Non-skills-based runs), as shown in Figure 4.14. The time intervals in green represent an agent’s at work state (breaks are not shown), the time intervals in blue represent off work time periods. If the schedule start times for a schedule are the same on every work day during the week, the schedule’s start time will be present in the Start Time column. If the start times are variable during the week for the given schedule, the Start Time column will display VAR. The schedules shown may be filtered by making selections from the Organizational Unit Name list and the Tour list, or by using the page controls at the top right corner to select the page to view. At most, 20 schedules will be displayed on a given page.

By default, the schedules are ordered by Schedule ID in ascending order. The schedules can be sorted by Schedule ID or Start Time, ascending or descending, by selecting the appropriate column header. An arrow appears next to the column header to indicate sort order.

Figure 4.14 - Schedule Details

The start time and day of a schedule may be edited through this view by clicking on one of the green schedule periods. A dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.15 is presented for editing.

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The Day field will be populated with available days of the week for this particular shift. The Start Time field will be populated with valid start times throughout the selected day for the given shift. Clicking Save will commit this change, and the Schedule Details and Agent Overages/Underages will be updated. Clicking Cancel will abort the edit request.

Figure 4.15 - Edit Schedule Dialog

4.2.8.13.4. Edit Weekly Schedule Clicking the Edit icon button on the Schedule Details module opens the Weekly Schedule module for the selected schedule. This view presents a more detailed view of the selected schedule.

Weekly Schedule Summary

The Weekly Schedule Summary, as shown in Figure 4.16, provides high level details about the selected schedule, including Schedule ID, Contact Group, Business Unit, Organizational Unit, and Tour Group Name.

To modify the Organizational Unit, select a new Organizational Unit from the Organizational Unit drop-down. The change will be stored immediately.

Figure 4.16 - Weekly Schedule Summary

Schedule Start and End Times

The Schedule Start and End Times area displays the current start time, end time and shift length for each workday in this schedule, as shown in Figure 4.17. The start time and day may be edited by selecting a new day or start time from the drop-down menus. Each drop-down is populated with only valid days or start times for the given shift. The end time is updated automatically.

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Figure 4.17 - Schedule Start and End Times

Schedule Break Details

The Schedule Break Details area displays the configured breaks for this schedule, as shown in Figure 4.18. The break times may be edited. When a schedule Start Time or Day is edited, the break times will be adjusted automatically. For example, if the Monday schedule were shifted from 08:15 to 10:15 in Figure 4.18, the Monday break would be shifted to 14:45.

Figure 4.18 - Schedule Break Details

Weekly View Chart

The Weekly View chart is a graphical representation of each daily shift for this schedule, as shown in Figure 4.19. Days of the week are represented horizontally. Time within a given day is represented vertically. The color of each cell of the table represents the status of that planning period.

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Figure 4.19 - Weekly View Chart

4.2.8.13.5. Delete Schedule Clicking the Delete icon button for a schedule in the Schedule Details view will remove this schedule from the database. The schedule will be removed immediately.

4.2.8.13.6. Add New Schedules Clicking on the Show Add New Schedules link will reveal the Add New Schedules control, as is shown in Figure 4.20, below. This control allows the creation of one or more schedules, all with the same Schedule Profile. The OU, Tour, Shift, and Start Time must be selected. Then, the specific days the schedules should be configured for must be selected, according to the rules presented in the Tour Requirements section. The number of schedules to create must be specified. Finally, clicking the Add Schedules button will check the information specified for any errors and either report an error message or create the schedules. Once schedules are created, the Schedule Details view is updated to reflect the new schedules, which are shown at the top of the list before any previously existing schedules. These new schedules can be edited by the normal means, as presented above.

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Figure 4.20 Add New Schedules Control

4.2.9. Email Notification The system is configured to automatically notify the user when the scheduling request is taken off the request queue and begins to process, the Scheduler has finished its processing and has generated schedules which are available for view, has ended processing because of an error, or a user-requested abort. A valid email address must be configured for the user in order for this feature to be enabled. Depending on the system configuration, this feature may or may not be available.

4.2.10. Deleting a Completed Schedule The user can delete a completed schedule run, or a schedule request that is in the Error state or in the Aborted state, by checking the checkbox in the first column of the schedule row in the Manage Page, and then selecting the Delete button at the top of the column. Any data generated by the Scheduler for this schedule request is deleted, but the associated Schedule Profiles, Agent Costs tables, and Agent Breaks tables, Service Profiles etc., are not deleted.

5. Bidding Processes In this Section Preference Based Bidding, Manual Bidding and Auto-Bidding processes are discussed.

Preference Based Bidding is a process by which agents prioritize their specific schedule choices during an established time period, and then they are assigned a schedule through an automated awarding function based on their ranking. These schedules become official once the bid award is processed. This type of bidding is typically used when the schedules are to be for a period of time (e.g. 14 weeks).

Manual Bidding is a process by which an agent name list and schedules are downloaded into a file. The names are then manually assigned to schedules in the file and the results are uploaded back in to the system as official schedules.

Auto-Bidding is an automated process that assigns agents to schedules based on their bid group ranking, organizational unit, tour group and preferred work days and times. During this process official schedules are created.

Note: For Segment Bidding/Agent Lists please refer to the WFM v2 WFM Portal Administrator User Manual sections 15 and 16.

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5.1. Preference Based Bidding The Preference Based Bidding Module allows the user to define agent bid groups, select schedule packages, schedule grouping criteria and set the bidding period rounds during which the agents submit their schedule choices. Once the bid window closes, the bid award can be processed. This page is found under Planning -> Bid Manager - Bidding Periods menu item..

5.1.1. Bidding Groups The Bidding Groups module handles the assignment of agents to a bidding group which is used in the Preference Based Bidding and Auto-bidding processes. A bid group includes group members and attributes used for ranking. This page is accessed by selecting Planning -> Bid Manager -> Bidding Groups from the menu.

5.1.1.1. Add New Bidding Group From the Manage Bidding Group page in the Add New Bidding Group box enter the bid group name and description as shown in Figure 5.1 and click on the Add button.

Figure 5.1 – Add New Bidding Group

5.1.1.1.1. Edit Bidding Group The Edit Bidding Group page allows the user to configure his or her bid group. The page appears as shown in Figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2 – Edit Bidding Group

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5.1.1.1.2. Order Type Order Type offers the options for Ranking Ordering or Composite Ordering. Ranking is used to rank agents in a certain order based on the assigned order of the attributes. In ranking agents, first attribute is used to rank agents. Any tie between two or more agents based on the first attribute is broken using the second (or third) attribute.

Composite is used to rank agents in a certain order based on the weighted value of the attributes. The user selects attributes and assigns weights to them. Each attribute value for an agent is converted into a scaled value between zero and one using the maximum and minimum values specified for the attribute. These scaled values are then multiplied by the attribute weights to determine a composite score for each agent.

5.1.1.1.3. Weekly Work Hours Weekly Work Hours are used to determine which full time or part time agents will be associated with the bidding group.

5.1.1.1.4. Active for Auto-Bidding When the Active for Auto-Bidding box is checked the bid group can only be used in the Auto-Bidding process. For Preference bidding leave the box unchecked. The Auto-Bidding process is discussed in Section 1.2.

5.1.1.1.5. Group Membership The Group Membership option allows the user to include agents at the Environment, Business Unit or Organizational Unit level. To exclude Organization Units at the Environment or Business Unit levels click on the Details icon and uncheck the ones not to be included.

5.1.1.1.6. Rank Ordering Criteria If the Ordering Type selected is Ranking Order the Rank Ordering Criteria Section is displayed. It allows the user to select which order the agents will be ranked. Either System or Custom attributes can be used. This option is available in both auto-bidding and preference bidding.

5.1.1.1.7. Composite Ordering Criteria If the Ordering Type selected is Composite Ordering the Composite Ordering Criteria Sections is displayed. It allows the user to select the attribute and assign a weight. Each attribute value for an agent is converted into a scaled value between zero and one using the maximum and minimum values specified for the attribute. These scaled values are multiplied by the attribute weights and summed up for each agent to obtain a composite score. This score is then used to rank agents for schedule assignment. This option is available in both auto-bidding and preference bidding.

5.1.2. Add New Bidding Periods The user can create a new bidding period by entering a name for the new bidding period, period start and end dates, participants, awards and method and click on the Add button in the Manage Schedules Bid Periods page, as shown in Figure 5.3.

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Figure 5.3 – Add New Bidding Period

The Administrator may set up any number of Schedule Bid Periods allowing different bidding groups to bid at different times. A schedule bid period will span a specific period of time as defined by the Bid Start Date and Bid End Date.

5.1.3. Edit Bidding Period To manage a new bidding period, the user should simply click on the Manage icon in the Action column of the corresponding row. The Edit Bidding Period page will be displayed as shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4 – Edit Bidding Period

5.1.3.1. Agent Bid Groups and Schedule Packages On the Agent Bid Groups and Schedule Packages tab, the user can select bid groups and a schedule package to be used for this bidding period shown in Figure 5.5. Schedules in the schedule package selected can be edited by clicking on the Edit Schedules link.

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Figure 5.5 – Agent Bid Groups and Schedule Packages

5.1.3.2. Schedule Grouping Criteria and Rotations On the Schedule Grouping Criteria and Rotations tab, the user can select to group items and create rotations.

5.1.3.2.1. Grouping Criteria

The Schedule Grouping Criteria Section allows the user to group schedules by Start Times, Shift Length and Days Off to limit the number of schedule combinations to be displayed to agents to bid on as shown in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6 – Schedule Grouping Criteria

5.1.3.2.2. Rotations

The Rotations Section allows the user to put together schedules from one Organizational Unit and one Contact Group creating a rotation and giving it a name. Once the first schedule and rotation name is added, click on the Edit icon for the corresponding row. From the Select Schedules drop-down select additional schedules to complete the rotation as shown in Figure 5.7.

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Figure 5.7 – Rotations

5.1.3.3. Bidding Period Rounds

On the Bidding Period Rounds tab the user can specify when the bid window will be open for agent bidding. The user should enter a bidding round name, the Date/Times the bidding round will open and close, and then click on the Add icon as shown in Figure 5.8.

Figure 5.8 – Bidding Period Rounds

A bid round can be re-opened by clicking on the Re-Open icon (Clock) on the Bidding Period Rounds tab as shown in Figure 5.9.

Figure 5.9 – Bidding Period Rounds Re-Open

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5.1.3.4. Process a Bid

Once a bidding round is closed, the Administrator can process the bid by clicking on the Process icon on the Bidding Period Rounds tab as shown in Figure 5.10. The Status will change to show Processing. Click on Refresh to check the status.

Figure 5.10 – Bidding Period Rounds Process

Once the process is complete you can view the awards by clicking on the Show Awards link.

5.1.3.5. Accept a Bid Result

The user can accept the bid results when the processing is completed. To do this, the use should click on the Accept icon in the Action column on the Bidding Period Rounds tab as shown in Figure 5.11

Figure 5.11 – Bidding Period Rounds Process Accept

5.1.3.6. Accept Bidding Period Result

Once all bid rounds are complete and accepted, the user can click the Accept Bidding Period Results button to accept the results of the entire bid period as shown in Figure 5.12. The official schedules are populated for the entire bid period and be visible to agents at the AWO Agent Workstation web site.

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Figure 5.12 – Accept Bidding Period Results

5.2. Auto Bidding The Auto-Bidding Transfers module handles the assignment of schedules to agents through an automated process. It uses i) the ranking order from the bid group, ii) obtains the agents organizational unit and skills, iii) checks agents tour group and availability settings, and iv) the agents preferences specifying preferred work Days/Times. The Auto-Bidding process then tries to find a schedule for each agent that is the closest match to that agent’s preferences. Agents are assigned to schedules based on the rank order. These schedules automatically become the official schedules. This page is accessed by selecting Planning -> Bid Manager – Auto-Bidding Transfers from the menu.

5.2.1. Bidding Group A bidding group must be created with the box checked for “Active for Auto-Bidding” see Section 5.1 Bidding Groups.

5.2.2. Run Auto-Bidding Assignments To run an auto-bid from the Run AutoBidding Assignments page, the user can select the Environment, the published scheduling package and click on the Run Assignment button in the Run New AutoBidding Assignment area as shown in Figure 5.13. The user can click on the View Potential Agent Schedule Assignments icon to preview possible assignments.

Once the run has completed the user has the options to Delete, View Assignments, Download or Transfer Again using the icons in the Action column.

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Figure 5.13 – Run Auto-Bidding Assignments

5.3. Manual Bidding The Manual Bidding Module allows the user to download schedules from a specific published schedule run, assign agents to schedules manually and upload the assignments. This page is accessed by selecting Planning -> Bid Manager -> Manual Bidding from the men, as shown in Figure 5.14.

Figure 5.14 – Upload Schedules

5.3.1. Download Current Schedules The Download Current Schedules button allows the user to get a current list of official agent schedules for the date range specified. The user should select an Environment, enter Start and End dates, and set the Select Schedule Package to Official Schedules.

5.3.2. Download Template The Download Template button is used to download a file that contains two tabs, 1) Schedules and 2) Schedulable Agents for the week dates specified in the Start and End Date boxes. The user should use the agent names and HR ID numbers in this file to assign schedules found on the Schedules tab. Once completed, the file should be saved to a local folder. The user can click on the Browse button, locate the file and then click on the Upload button to complete manual bidding. These schedules automatically become the official schedules.

Note: Changes made to schedules in the downloaded file will be ignored during uploading. Schedule changes can be made by an Administrator using the Manage Agent Schedules page at the Agent Workstation web site. Editing schedules is discussed in Section 11.3.2 of the WFM v2 Agent Workstation Administrator Web Site User Manual.